Apple To Hold “Secret Retail Meeting” On Sunday Ahead Of Major Media Event

Apple is asking its retail employees to sign non-disclosure agreements ahead of a secret, all-hands meeting to be held this Sunday, Apple Insider is reporting. It could foreshadow a major launch, a media event or both.

The newest MacBook Pro refresh — featuring a bump to Intel’s new Sandy Bridge chipset and rumored to feature ubiquitous SSDs for booting OS X — have been rumored to come out this Thursday, an unusual day for Apple to release products but coinciding with Steve Jobs’ birthday.

However, if Apple won’t be meeting with its retail employees until Sunday, it implies that either the new MacBook Pros won’t ship until next week… or they are gathering together to discuss an entirely new product launch altogether.

The only other Apple media event that is rumored to happen soon is the launch of the iPad 2, but a report this morning suggested that Apple wouldn’t be shipping the second-generation iOS tablet until June due to production bottlenecks.

If you ask me, smart bet right now given this information is that the MacBook Pros launching next Tuesday instead of this Thursday. I wonder though. If Apple Insider is right, and this meeting implies a “forthcoming media event,” does Apple intend on putting someone up on stage to intro the new MacBook Pros… and will they take the opportunity to simultaneously unveil the iPad 2? If so… we should start seeing the press invites hitting inboxes sooner rather than later.